CHAPTER VI.

ON FREQUENT COMMUNION.

AGAIN, when St. Gertrude prayed for a certain virgin, who, moved by zeal for justice, made other pious sisters timid by her words, and deterred them from frequent reception of the Holy Eucharist, our Lord answered her: Since my delights are to be with the children of men, (Prov. viii. 31), and I have, therefore, out of 244supreme love left this Sacrament to be received by the faithful in commemoration of Me, and also will, through it, to remain with them even to the consummation of the world; whosoever by words or persuasion withdraws from the reception of it those who are free from mortal sin, he impedes and interrupts My delights, which I might have with them. For he is like a severe schoolmaster, who harshly separates the king’s son from his poor and ignoble companions (in whose society the king’s son himself greatly delights), judging it more becoming that the youth should have royal honours, than that he should play at ball with them in the streets. But if any one proposes to lay aside and avoid such severity, I not only pardon him, but I am as much pleased as would be the king’s son if the schoolmaster with a serene and gentle countenance brought back his beloved companions to play with him.”

St. Gertrude also understood from our Lord, that they receive not the Holy Eucharist irreverently or unworthily, who receive it piously from a desire for the honour, praise, and glory of God; for in this doth that divine glory most conspicuously shine forth, that His Supreme Majesty disdains not to communicate Himself to men so unworthy. Therefore, all pious priests, and also monks and nuns of good will, who sincerely seek after God and their own salvation, striving to keep their rule and the holy statutes of their congregation, passing their time usefully, and who, when they are negligent, or transgress in any point, confess sincerely to their priest whatever their 245conscience shows them to be sinful; these ought to have great confidence in God, and thus to receive through His mercy and goodness the Sacrament of the Eucharist as often as it is given by the rule, or as they have the good custom of receiving it. In like manner, all laymen and women living in any condition allowed by God and the Church, whether married or single, whether they buy or sell, or gain their livelihood in any other lawful way, if with a good will they persevere by the grace of God in well-doing, refraining from grave faults, and wish to direct their lives according to the precepts of God and the decrees of holy Church, and confess their sins with a humble heart to the priest; all these trusting in the mercy of God, may receive the adorable Sacrament of the Eucharist on solemn feasts or on the days appointed by their spiritual Father. For, although they may be variously occupied in external affairs, and often fall into slight faults, they are yet just in all things according to their power, and therefore are pleasing to God. But among those who wear secular attire, some are occasionally found so pure and fervent, or so holy, that they may receive Holy Communion every day.

The soul of a certain deceased person appeared in flames of intense fire to a servant of God, and said that he was suffering such dire torments solely because he had been negligent about the reception of the Lord’s Body, adding that he would soon be liberated if that person would but once devoutly receive the Adorable Sacrament for him. When the servant 246of God had done this, the soul appeared to him on the following day more bright and refulgent than the sun, having been by that one reception of this most worthy Sacrament, delivered from intolerable pains, and conveyed to eternal bliss in heaven.

Christ Jesus said to St. Gertrude: “When I communicate Myself to thee in the Sacrament of the Altar, I caress thee with embraces and kisses; and this delight is incomparably greater than any one can ever experience from human embraces and kisses. For the delight of human embraces and kisses is vile, and passes away with time; but the sweetness of that union by which thou art united to Me in the Sacrament of the Altar is most noble and pure, nor can it ever fail or diminish, but the oftener it is renewed, the more vigorously doth it flourish to all eternity.”

The Lord said to St. Catherine: “The heart of man ought truly to be pierced and melted by considering, among the benefits bestowed by Me, the exceeding benefit of the holy and venerable Eucharist. But this is to be looked upon with the eye of the intellect and of faith, not only with the eye of the body: for the eye of faith discerns, under the insignificant species of bread, the true God and true Man. how great is the excellence and dignity of receiving in a state of grace this admirable and ineffable Sacrament! For It is the Bread of Life and the Food of Angels. He who fitly receives It, abideth in Me, and I in him (St. John vi. 57). My incomprehensible charity provideth for you this salutary food, 247that in this life, in which you are wayfarers and pilgrims, you may hence derive solace and refreshment, and that the memory may remain with you of the Passion and Precious Blood of My only begotten Son.”

Christ said to St. Mechtildis: “When thou art about to receive Holy Communion, do thou desire and wish to the praise of My name, to have all the desire and all the love for Me with which any heart has ever been inflamed, and thus draw near to Me. For I shall regard and accept that love from thee, not as it is in thee, but as thou wishest it to be in thee.”

When St. Gertrude was about to receive the Body of Christ, being grieved that she was ill prepared, she besought the Blessed Virgin Mary and all the Saints, that they would offer for her to our Lord all the worthiness with which any one of them had ever been prepared to receive the grace of God. Wherefore, our Lord said to her: “Thou dost truly now appear to all the citizens of heaven adorned as thou didst desire to be.” It is good, therefore, that who soever is about to receive Holy Communion, should also desire and seek to have his soul adorned with the merits and virtues of Jesus Christ and His Saints.

Once, when St. Gertrude was very weak, she wished to receive the divine Eucharist (for which she had diligently prepared herself), yet, by the advice of her spiritual Mother, for the sake of discretion, she did not receive It. And on her offering this to our Lord, to His eternal praise, the Lord, bending towards 248her, received her into the bosom of His paternal benignity, and, sweetly caressing her, said: “Because thou didst determine to omit receiving Me, purely for My sake, I will cherish thee in My bosom.” Then St. Gertrude understood that to intermit Holy Communion, not from negligence, but from discretion, or out of obedience, is not displeasing, but pleasing to God.

It is, therefore, laudable to abstain sometimes from the sacramental reception of the Eucharist through humility and holy fear or reverence; but it is much better to receive it frequently through charity, and desire for the glory of God and the common good, or out of special devotion. Assuredly, since this most excellent Sacrament is the fountain of all grace, and the medicine of the soul, no one ought lightly to absent himself from its reception, because, perchance, he does not feel spiritual sweetness and consolation, or because he is afflicted with grievous and importunate temptations. For he who communicates piously and humbly reaps great benefit, not only for himself, but also for others, living and dead. But he who, being impeded by hatred of his neighbour, or by any other grievous crime, fears not to receive the Holy Eucharist, incurs eternal damnation (1 Cor. xi. 29). Such a one is inevitably lost, unless he be reconciled to God by penance.

The handmaiden of Christ, Mechtildis, was once confined to her bed, while the other virgins of her convent received the Holy Eucharist. When she, therefore, lamented, sighing deeply to the Lord in 249poverty of spirit, she saw the Lord arise from His throne, saying: “By reason of the misery of the needy and the groans of the poor, now will I arise” (Psalm xi. 6). And when He arose, all the Saints likewise arose, offering to God for the spiritual consolation of the sick person, and to the eternal praise of God, the homage which they had rendered to God on earth, and those things which they had suffered for His sake. By which Mechtildis understood that whenever a soul in poverty of spirit sends up sighs or groans to God, desiring His grace, all the Saints immediately impetrate grace and obtain pardon for that soul, provided the soul sighs with grief for its sins. And the Lord said: “When thou sighest after Me, thou drawest Me to thyself. Behold, man by his will alone acquires not anything, however vile and worthless; but Me any one may possess by his will, or even by a single sigh.”